28 establishments in Corfu closed for tax evasion

From Wednesday to Friday, a massive operation took place in Corfu to identify businesses evading taxes and / or selling substandard and contraband drinks.

It was attended by tax and customs inspectors of the Independent State Revenue Administration with the assistance of the Greek police. Control groups landed at the southernmost point of the island, Kavos, known for wild parties, where the British and other tourists relax under the influence of alcohol. This area is unofficially considered a “no-go zone” and therefore no inspections have been carried out here for many years.

This was an operation coordinated by the operations department of the Hellenic Revenue Service, which was preceded by a communication between the head of the Revenue Service, Giorgos Picilis, the Minister for the Protection of Citizens, Yiannis Ikonou, and the Chief of Police.

The inspectors conducted a simultaneous raid on several bars and restaurants in the area, demanding from tax inspectors that they remove cash tapes, and from customs officers that the drinks served were clean, not adulterated or contraband.

Throughout the operation, AADE employees were in direct contact with the inspectors through the operational room and monitored the progress of the inspections, filming video and photographic results in real time.

As a result of the checks, the following was found:

• 26 catering establishments failed to issue at least 40,578 checks for a total of 267,418 euros.
• 2 public catering establishments did not issue 1204 checks for a total of 8252 euros.
• In 7 catering establishments, drinks were served that were not labeled with a batch number, which means that they were contraband and/or counterfeit. In addition, 8 samples were taken, the contents of which have already been sent to the State General Laboratory.
• Drinks were served drained with drinks from previous customers. As inspectors have established, bartenders collect what is left in the glasses of visitors, pour it into a container, and from there they serve glasses of drinks to tourists.

Such establishments were closed for 48 hours and fined. Checks continue in other tourist areas.

Corfu (Kerkyra), along with Mykonos, is known in Greece for the high level of criminalization of the “night entertainment” industry, where the mafia rules for many years. Many establishments “protected” at the highest level, and the current inspection was actually the first in the last decades.

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